digital music and the music business

BMG's production music division has acquired Immediate Music, a leading U.S. independent production music team working in motion picture advertising and trailers; and sister company 1 Revolution Music, a television music catalog.

While the Holy Grail of concert venues for most performers is likely a large capacity spot like the House of Blues or the Filmore, there are number of venues across America so small they are often overlooked, but are nonetheless a must for performers. Here we look at five such spots.

Here we look at how the legal action (and inaction) by those in the federal government and the Department of Justice in particular has it challenging for songwriters to be paid fairly for their time time spent producing anything other than a dramatic musical.

While there is a plethora of advice available on the specifics of what needs to go into an electronic press kit and how to get it created. With the millions of EPKs out there, however, finding a way to make sure yours stands out from the crowd is equally important.

Musicians, by the nature of their craft are often self-employed and under capitalized making them particularly vulnerable to changes in health care and insurance. But there is so much noise coming out of Washington that it's impossible to keep track. So Kevin Ericson of The Future Of Music Coalition did the research and shares an important update.

Spotify has a long and sordid history of failing to pay proper mechanical royalties to creators and publishers, and has already been hit with two major class action lawsuits relating to such. Here we take a look at the legal details negating Spotify's claim that it doesn't need to pay these royalties.

If you're confused about the best ways to release your music online, have we got a free webinar for you! Getting music up for sale is the easy part. The key is to have a strategy for where your music goes up for sale, and when. Join the Bandzoogle team online Wednesday to learn more.

Cementing its status as the leader in personal photo and video sharing, Instagram announced that it now has 800 million users, up 100 million since late April. More than 500 million of them are active every day.

If you're involved in the music industry, chances are attending concerts is up there on your list of favorite activities, but doing so often carries an inherent risk. If you're looking for a more relaxing venue, or possibly a good spot to bring an apprehensive friend or acquaintance, the following represent a few good options.

Video platform Vimeo has acquired live video destination Livestream and launched its own live solution Vimeo Live. Livestream powers over 10 million events a year many for 10,000 paying customers including Spotify, Quartz, Dow Jones and the Philadelphia Eagles.

Zedge, a smartphone personalization platform, announced plans to roll out a marketplace for artists to monetize their creations later this year. To accelerate development, Zedge has acquired IP assets from Freeform and retained co-founders Tim Quirk and Bryan Calhoun. Quirk will become SVP of Marketplace at Zedge.

New releases last Friday included Fergie, Macklemore, Cardi B, The Killers, Miley Cyrus, Demi Lovato, Dierks Bentley and more. But there was a clear favorite. Cardi B was the #1 artist there this week with over 105,000 listeners adding her artist station, and “Bodak Yellow” the top song across the service. Who else dominated on Pandora last week?

The debate as to how much piracy has hurt the recorded music industry rages on and currently informs decisions as to how much ad supported music reduces illegal downloads. An "unearthed study," which some interpret a proving that piracy had not negative impact on the music industry, is setting the internet on fire. Not so fast, says Neil Turkewitz.

Is music becoming more about the experience than the music itself? It seems Gene Simmons of KISS may have just cracked the code on how to sell music: you don't sell the music, you sell the experience of buying the music.

[UPDATED] The digital marketing and sales mantra of being available anywhere and everywhere your fans are, is evolving. Music, tickets and merch, not only has to be accessible; it has to be easy to purchase. Every extra click and keystroke leads to diminished sales. Braintree is working to solve that problem; and with an expanding Eventbrite partnership, is bringing contextual commerce to DIY ticketing.

Long-time Goldenvoice veteran Lesley Olenik has left the company for a new role as Vice President of Touring at Live Nation. Based in Los Angeles, Olenik will report to Omar Al-Joulani, SVP of Touring.

If you've never utilized (or even heard of ) the paid subscription feature on YouTube, you're not alone, which is why YouTube is axing the feature in favor of "sponsorships", which provide users with custom, sponsorship exclusive content.

Commentary from inside the industry this week covered the hype over chatbots and if they're worth it, aletter from music organizers regarding NAFTA talks, the effect going after YouTube ripping sites is having, and more.

Tips, tricks, advice, and more this week, are share ideas on time management, what metadata is and why artists should manage their own, why moving to Brooklyn isn't essential for your band to make it big, and more!

This week on MusicThinkTank, we covered the challenge of coming to the US as a Canadian or Mexican band, what to keep in mind when purchasing drums, how to find time for music when you have a day job, and more.

Before moving on to what will surely be another full week of music industry news, we're taking some time to revisit major stories from the past seven days, including a breakdown of where the major money in the music biz is coming from, how we remember artists who have passed away, the state of streaming mid-2017, and more!

This week, the most often read posts from the pages of Hypebot covered why Spotify appears to be beating out Apple Music, the best way to book yourself a gig and get asked back, why indie rock is doing so well, and more!

An effective online marketing campaign is key to the success of any artist, but successfully executing one is easier said than done. In this piece we look at three different tips for growing your online audience, as well as better connecting with it.

It's no secret that streaming is driving a comeback for a recorded music industry that saw sales fall from $40 billion in 1999 to just $14.5 billion in 2014. Revenues from paid subscriptions, ad supported streaming and digital radio are still a fraction of the industry's peak, but they are certainly moving in the right direction.